[size=14pt]Mega deal turns sour for 419 cartel[/size]

AKINWALE ABORISADE


A group of fraudsters that specialise in duping innocent members of the society are out of luck after a member of the cartel was arrested by the police. He told AKINWALE ABORISADE about the activities of the group and his involvement in the latest deal

[img]http://odili.net/news/source/2010/aug/8/punch/images/pix20100808310854[1].jpg[/img]
Afees Babatunde



http://odili.net/news/source/2010/aug/8/850.html

For a group of fraudsters - otherwise called 419ners - in the city of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, it appears that things are no longer pleasant. The Oyo State Police Command had launched a war against the illegal business with a declaration that it would no longer be business as usual for the perpetrators.

As the campaign kicks off in earnest, the Oyo State Public Relations Officer, Ms. Olabisi Okuwobi, has announced that one of the members of a notorious cartel has been trapped. She says investigations are ongoing to get other members of the group.

Afees Babatunde, 27, who was identified as a member of the Ekwueme 419 group in Ibadan is presently cooling his feet in police custody over a fraud case. The Divisional Crime Officer of Agugu Police Station, Mr. Ayoola Olawole, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the suspect had volunteered some useful information about the group, which he said was led by a man popularly called 'Chief.'

Babatunde, a tall and calm-looking young man, said he was introduced to the business by one older folk in his neighbourhood in Mushin, Lagos State, who is simply identified as Femi. Babatunde, who recalled that his father, a retired soldier, had earlier raised an eyebrow about his lifestyle, said, "He (his father) had warned that I should desist from moving with bad boys. He once threatened to disown me if I went into crime, but I did not heed his advice."

A native of Abeokuta in Ogun State, Babatunde lived in Lagos with his parents. Coming from a polygamous setting, he was the second child of his mother, who happened to be the second wife of his father. Babatunde, after his Junior Secondary School examination at Igbobi Boys College, Fadeyi, Lagos, in 2003, trained as a video cameraman, but he desired a quick means of getting rich.

Whenever he was idle, Babatunde said he was always in the company of Femi, his neighbour who eventually introduced him to the 419 business. He said, "Uncle Femi is married, but his wife does not live with him. The man used to send me to his girlfriends and was always sending me on errand to buy things for him."

As gratification for being a good boy, Femi always oiled Babatunde's palm with cash. That got the two even closer. Babatunde said that considering the lavish manner in which Femi spent money, he believed that there was more to it than met the eye. He became curious and swore to know the secret of his easy-gotten money, which he often freely doled out on people around him.

One day, Babatunde asked what Femi did for a living. He however failed to tell him. The young man then swore never to have anything to do with him unless he opened up to him. Things then fell apart between the estranged friends. But the animosity did not last long. One of Femi's girlfriends had visited shortly after they parted ways and he beckoned Babatunde to run errands for him. But before the young man obliged, he made Femi promise that he would disclose his trade to him and fix him up in the same line of business.

With the deal done, Femi introduced Babatunde to the 419 business. As a member of the hit-cartel, he was expected to be bright and quick. But he was said to have lacked the required acumen to survive in the murky terrain and so was soon pushed out. Babatunde told SUNDAY PUNCH that he had foiled his first deal with Femi's cartel by making them lose a deal in Ikeja, Lagos in February 2010. Since there was no room for training he was forcefully eased out.

Efforts to reunite with the group proved abortive. But Babatunde was not ready to give up. He relocated to Ibadan and settled with a childhood friend, whom he identified as Wasiu. He encouraged his friend to join up in the shady deal, but Wasiu turned out to be an unwilling horse. Babatunde then decided to scout round for those who could be willing.

During one of his outings with Wasiu, he ran into a gang at a beer parlour at Iwo Road area of Ibadan. There he found new friends who happen to be members of a notorious 419 group. But it took time before he was admitted into their fold. He said, "They were initially unwilling because they thought I was a police undercover agent. But with my persistence they let me into their midst." He was introduced to their ringleader simply known by many as Ekwueme a.k.a. Chief. After an assessment, he was admitted as an ad hoc member of the fold.

But as a matter of principle, a new member in the group was usually kept at arm's length and not allowed to have privileged information about members' details such as house address, full names and hangouts. They had a common meeting place at Onipasan in Ibadan. Until new members were certified fit and committed to the group, they would be restricted to see them only at the common meeting place.

At about 3 pm on July 8, 2010, the group had a successful pact. Four members of the group: Babatunde, Tope, Fatai and Sade were riding in a taxi along Iwo Road area of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway when an unsuspecting female student of Lead City University, Vivian Obi, who was on her way to school, waved their cab down.

One of them who pretended to be a passenger with a bag of money, which he lied that he had stolen, offered to disembark from the vehicle. Other occupants of the cab with the exception of Obi insisted that they would have their own share of the loot or raise an alarm. The passenger agreed that he would share the money with them, but said they must employ the services of a spiritualist who could help them cast the spell off the ill-gotten money.

Obi swallowed the bait and got hooked. At the end of the day, she lost her mother's N2.7m to the deal. With an intention to be part of the sharing, she followed the group comprising three men and a lady to a make-believe-temple, where she was forced to swear to an oath that she would not betray the group to the police. She also swore to bring money to the shrine as propitiation.

In matter of days, Obi travelled to Lagos and returned with the said sum of money, which she stole from her mother's shop. While her parent's rage was still on, the group called the embattled lady to bring another sum of N250,000. She then confessed to her parents with an explanation that she took the money to the gang for fear of being killed by the gods having sworn to an oath in the temple. She made a formal complaint at the Agugu Police Station, Ibadan on July 24.

With the assistance of the police, she went to the spot where the group instructed her to bring the N250,000 cash on July 28. There, Babatunde was caught. According to the DCO of Agugu, the suspect with other members of the group had taken to their heels at the sight of some plain uniformed police officers. But Babatunde was unlucky. Olawole said the suspect, in an attempt to escape, would have been crushed by the police truck, but was arrested alive.

Getting the other members of the gang was difficult because the suspect in the police net was a new member of the fold, who had not got sufficient clue to vital details about them. He told the police that his own share of the loot was N220,000. But according to him, the remaining sum left on him at the time of his arrest was N15,000.

The police alleged that the ringleader of the group was making frantic efforts to secure Babatunde's release through negotiation on the telephone. They were said to have offered to pay an undisclosed amount to the police so as to rest the case and secure the release of their boy, but the police said they had insisted that the group must surrender themselves.

mama-gee:

He even looks like someone that has hepatitis. . .

Look at those eyes. . .yellow as heck.

I swaer, I was going to type the same thing

mama-gee:

He even looks like someone that has hepatitis. . .

Look at those eyes. . .yellow as heck.

Too much spending cash can change the color of your eyes.

Aloy_Emeka:

Too much spending cash can change the color of your eyes.

419 is played out.

We need get like the Mexicans in a more "lucrative" business.

He looks like Sauron's younger brother

[size=25pt]Hang him already.[/size]

mama-gee:

[size=25pt]Hang him already.[/size]

Why?

He committed no harm. 419 is simply playing on someones greed.

agabaI23:

He looks like Sauron's younger brother

Roflmaopimp

EzeUche22:

Why?

He committed no harm. 419 is simply playing on someones greed.

Seems true .

Aloy_Emeka:

Roflmaopimp

agabaI23:

He looks like Sauron's younger brother

LoTR?! Never thought I'd see the day

mama-gee:

Hang him already.

mama-gee:

Playing on someone's greed doesn't justify the crime.

Someone who steals people's loot by giving out false information doesn't deserve to be counted among the human race.

He should be hung.

Murdering him doesn't justify the crime.

yoruba ole operating with okoro identity

Nchara:

yoruba ole operating with okoro identity

Have you considered the possibility that their oga patapata is igbo, hence the name of the cartel?

EzeUche22:

419 is played out.

We need get like the Mexicans in a more "lucrative" business. 

Oh, yall got into that already! Do u know how many Ibo men get hung in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China annually. . . . . . ?

bk.babe97y:

Oh, yall got into that already! Do u know how many Ibo men get hung in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China annually. . . . . . ?

oleeee, oleeee, oleeee, Yoruba thief! The reason why nigeria can never move forward. Damn F*ck Ups.

So yoruba boys don dey use igbo identity dey thief? Nobody,noticed that,but if they were igbo boys,d thread would have reached 5 pages of "moronic comments" 4rm some sculptures called human beings. . .

philip0906:

So yoruba boys don dey use igbo identity dey thief? Nobody,noticed that,but if they were igbo boys,d thread would have reached 5 pages of "moronic comments" 4rm some sculptures called human beings. . .

So your name which is Phillip means you don dey use oyibo identity to run things including nairaland membership?

philip0906:

So yoruba boys don dey use igbo identity dey thief? Nobody,noticed that,but if they were igbo boys,d thread would have reached 5 pages of "moronic comments" 4rm some sculptures called human beings. . .

nna nawaho thank God dey kachi dem if not na igbo people

Yoruba has always committted crimes with Igbo identity. We have read all that here on nairaland

Nchara:

Yoruba has always committted crimes with Igbo identity. We have read all that here on nairaland

May be assuming igbo identities help them become successful in the crime. No biggie here.

EzeUche22:

419 is played out.

We need get like the Mexicans in a more "lucrative" business.

just don't take your importing and exporting business to china, you might not come back alive.

guinea bissau is a lucrative transit point for your kind of business

bawomolo:


just don't take your importing and exporting business to china, you might not come back alive.

guinea bissau is a lucrative transit point for your kind of business 

Lol.

Oh, yall got into that already! Do u know how many Ibo men get hung in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China annually. . . . . . ?

Tell us.

Aloy_Emeka:

So your name which is Phillip means you don dey use oyibo identity to run things including nairaland membership?

dat ain't my full name. . .

philip0906:

dat ain't my full name. . .

Same way, Ekwueme is not their full name.

Aloy+Emeka:

Same way, Ekwueme is not their full name.

But ekwueme is def igbo. . .Those r yoruba boys hiding behind d cloak of d igbo tribe,2 perpetrate their evil. . .

philip0906:

But ekwueme is def igbo. . .Those r yoruba boys hiding behind d cloak of d igbo tribe,2 perpetrate their evil. . .

Just like you are hiding behind Oyibo name to perpetrate tribalism. What is the difference?. Must the name Ekwueme be used by only igbos?. P-Square is not Igbo name yet they are Igbos, etc. The popular Nigerian soap of the 80's known as Headmaster came from Igbos yet one character there is known as Jegede and he is an igbo man.

Aloy+Emeka:

Just like you are hiding behind Oyibo name to perpetrate tribalism. What is the difference?. Must the name Ekwueme be used by only igbos?. P-Square is not Igbo name yet they are Igbos, etc.

Philip is my real name.But I have an igbo surname.This username philip0906 is what I use in all forums 2 make it less stressful,trying 2 remember my username

philip0906:


Philip is my real name.But I have an igbo surname.This username philip0906 is what I use in all forums 2 make it less stressful,trying 2 remember my username

May be the oga patapata has Igbo father whose name is Ekwueme too. It is no impossible, is it? Or may be they used the name to confuse policemen from looking for them. When they hear the gang's name, they will quickly assume it is an igbo gang and even if they confront the Yoruba members, they will ignore them. Is that not ingenuity at its best?